Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/04/29

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Subject: Re: Leicaphilia
From: jdrouin@islandnet.com (Jamie Drouin)
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 1997 18:28:48 -0800

Robert wrote:
>I've no essential quarrel with anything you've said in your post. But as a
>photographer who makes part of his living through the sale of original
>prints, it is a little depressing to hear such well-reasoned arguments
>about why NOT to buy prints coming from fellow photographers.

        I agree with this statement.  Off-set printed images *can* provide
you with an inexpensive means of enjoying a body of work, or a large number
of works by different photographers...I happen to have a fairly large
collection of fine photography books...but in many cases they are a poor
imitation of an original print.  Rarely have I been disappointed seeing a
print in its original form after becoming familiar with it through
reproduction.  There are nuances simply beyond the scale of the
reproduction process, as well as the obvious question of scale.  I, for
one, have a very specific reason for choosing the scale to print my images
and find it difficult to see them reproduced in any other way.  I also have
a definite choice for how the prints are matted and framed which is based
on proportion and the integrity of how the image distinguishes itself from
its surroundings.  I still shudder when I see favorite images printed full
page bleed, destroying their whole physical presence.

         Of course, there are very good reasons for making books of your
work, and I hope to myself one day, but it would not be a substitute for
the originals.

                                               Jamie.

Jamie Drouin Photography
http://www.islandnet.com/~jdrouin

'the means...exceed the measure of the imaginable'
 Hans Kessler, 16 April, 1933